nsnbc : Saudi Arabia’s vice and virtue police arrested a young woman who was filmed at an archeological site wearing a skirt and top and wearing her hair openly. A series of videos of her posted via snapchat and prompted authorities to launch an investigation that resulted in the arrest. Her case, and the 2011 beheading of a women for “sorcery” show that there is virtually no difference in the ideologies of the Saudi regime and that of the self-proclaimed Islamic State terror organization.
The woman was touring the a historic fort in Ushayqir, Saudi Arabia, wearing what would be considered a “very short skirt” in the ultra-conservative Arab Gulf Kingdom. The snap chat videos were snapped and circulated in social media – attracting international attention and causing controversy in Saudi Arabia. Some called for the arrest of the woman while others supported her “act of bravery”.
Police in Riyadh announced on Tuesday last week that they had identified and arrested the young woman on charges of wearing indecent clothing. The woman reportedly admitted that it was her in the video but that someone else posted them online.
Moreover, she maintained that she had been accompanied by the – mandatory – male guardian and that she hadn’t broken any laws that restrict a woman’s right to travel on her own.
Police handed her case to the office of the prosecutor who will have to decide whether or not to raise criminal charges. If charged, the woman could face prison time for violating the country’s strict and oppressive rules and morality laws.
While the videos probably were not intended for political purposes, they caused a major backlash against the extremely conservative Islamist Saudi regime whose policy and politico-religious philosophy – in actuality – is not much different from that of the self-proclaimed Islamic State.
A growing number of young people are silently resisting this oppression; young Saudis who wish reform, and who would produce, share, or endorse videos such as the ones with “Skirt Girl” as an act of bravery, protest, resistance, and especially for women, a reclamation of sovereignty and dignity.
Even members of the royal family who promote moderate reforms like Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s ambitious young crown prince, who is trying to present his country as in the process of modernization, have to tread carefully.
The 31-year-old heir to the throne is the architect of Vision 2030, a plan to overhaul the Saudi economy and in the process ease of the kingdom’s more austere sharia laws.
Now, it may be hard for some to understand why even supporting her “act of bravery” requires some bravery. To put this into perspective in December 2011, Saudi-Arabia provoked the scorn of human rights movements and activists worldwide, when it publicly beheaded a young Saudi woman, who had fallen out with her husband, who had accused of sorcery.
The 2011 public beheading for “sorcery” is just one of many examples one could use to demonstrate that there is virtually no difference between the ideologies of the Saudi regime and that of the Islamic State terror organization.
Seriously speaking – in a country where women are beheaded for “sorcery”, it would not be surprising if men who endorse the skirt-wearing women’s bravery were sentenced for that as well – maybe with the mitigating circumstance that they may be been bewitched.
In Saudi Arabia women are expected to follow a strict dress code where the Abayas, a lose, full lengths robe, and a headscarf covering the face are “the norm”. Women have to have permission to leave the home, drive a car, and in most cases have a male “guardian” when they want to leave the home.
CH/L – nsnbc 21.07.2017
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2017/07/21/saudi-vice-and-virtue-police-arrested-skirt-girl/
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